Book fair keeps pace with technology

With Point of Sales (POS) machines to ensure cashless transactions, demonetisation will not trouble this annual extravaganza for bibliophiles at St George School on Poonamallee High Road. Gandhi Kannadhasan, President of Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), which organises the fair, said this year’s event will have around 700 stalls. “There are 151 stalls for English publishing and book sellers, 120 for Tamil book sellers, 356 for Tamil book publishers and 23 for multimedia outlets, apart from other stalls for service and support,” he said. 

The edition’s highlight is the mobile app, where people can purchase e-tickets. “The free app gives detailed information about the fair, stall location and offers on tickets. Visitors must produce the e-ticket and pay at the venue. For every 100-ticket (e-ticket), four people will be allowed for the entire fair,” said Kannadhasan. To deal with cash crunch caused by demonetisation, all the sellers and publishers have been insisted upon having their own Point of Sales (POS) machines. 

“BAPASI has also taken the initiative of facilitating a common pool 50 machines, five each for the 10-day-long fair, to help small publishers and sellers. Two ATM machines have also been installed. Tokens of 50, 100 and 200 rupees have been introduced. These tokens will be issued to customers who does not have small change and could also be used at the food court,” added Kannadhasan. 

The 40th edition also has drawing and writing competitions to encourage participation of kids and youngsters. The works of winners will be published in a book. Stalls that are popular include the multimedia sections and self-development, especially for school children. 

“A lot of parents come to buy educational DVDs for their children. The demand increases every year, as interactive learning is becoming more popular, driving away boredom from studying,” said Vadivel of Pebbles Samacheer. SR Venkat, Deputy Director of Max Academy, said books on boosting memory and skill development are highly in demand. 

“Our book titled ‘How to excel in studies and score high marks’ is a best-seller every year. Parents want to improve their children’s memory and learning skills. This year too, we will see a lot more demand for such material,” Venkat concluded.